The Reading Agenda

About this series: The federal government is betting nearly a billion dollars a year that using a more explicit and systematic approach to reading instruction will improve student achievement. In this two-part series researched over the past year, Education Week found that officials are putting their faith in a select group of scholars, a small body of research, and a handful of commercial products to get the job done.

A number of commercial reading programs have satisfied the requirement under the federal reading law for embodying a strong research base, yet there appears to be limited outside evidence that any of them produces a conclusive and consistent effect on overall reading achievement.

Teachers and administrators throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District expressed concerns after officials announced in 1999 that most of the district’s 425 elementary schools would be required to use Open Court Reading. Includes: "Leading Commercial Series Don’t Satisfy 'Gold Standard.'"

With increasing attention focused on reading achievement and the potential for policy to bring higher standards to instruction, the reading agenda once controlled by those in academe is now being set more and more by Washington.